Karlsson, 22, will miss the rest of the season with a 70 percent laceration to the tendon, the Senators announced on Thursday. He was cut by Penguins forward Matt Cooke's skate on an otherwise innocuous second-period hit.

“You try not to think about it,” New York Islanders winger Matt Moulson told Sporting News earlier on Thursday. “We’re skating out there, going however fast, and you’ve got these sharp knives on your feet. Sometimes, something unfortunate happens. It’s a scary thing, but as an athlete, you’ve got to put it out of your mind and take the best precautions you can.”

In the case of what happened to Karlsson, that means wearing special, cut-resistant socks. Moulson said he has gone back and forth between wearing them and not, but “when you see something like that, it definitely encourages everyone to wear them.”

“Whenever a skate hits your skin, there’s really not much you can do,” said Matt Carkner, who needed stitches in 2010 after an accident at Senators practice in which he was cut by the skate of Karlsson, whom he called a great friend. “I’ve gotten a couple of skates to the leg, and it does a lot of damage – just a little bit of pressure and it’s enough damage to knock you out for a while. It’s a scary thing for players when they know they’ve been sliced open. It’s not a good feeling.”

Across the visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden, where the Islanders were preparing to face the Rangers on Thursday night, defenseman Brian Strait said that he did not wear the special socks, which prompted Isles captain Mark Streit to offer some free advice: wear the socks.

“I do not, I do not wear them,” Strait said.

“Come on,” Streit replied.

“I don’t know if they even do anything — a pressure cut like that?” Strait said.

“I do,” Streit said. “Yeah.”

“But for a pressure cut like that?” Strait said. “Probably for a slice, it would help.”

“I don’t know,” Streit replied. “I just know that those are cut proof. It probably helps.”

“I’ve got to get them,” Strait said.

Streit noted that the protective socks take a little bit of getting used to, because they are thicker, but he knows that the adjustment is worth it.

“(Andrei) Markov got cut a few years ago,” Streit said. “I think it’s smart to put them on. You’re a little safer. I can recommend it.”

Markov, a defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens, had a foot tendon sliced by the skate of his own goaltender, Carey Price, in the 2009 season opener. The previous season, Montreal lost Robert Lang to an Achilles tear from a skate accident. In 2010, Canadiens equipment manager Pierre Gervais told the Montreal Gazette, “If Markov and Lang were wearing this (protective) sock, they wouldn’t have missed a game.”

John Tavares, the Islanders’ leading scorer, is a believer. He is looking for new socks because his preferred style was discontinued, but Tavares knows that it is better to be safe than sorry, and he has seen the evidence.

“Sometimes you just get little nicks where it’s nothing serious, but it could be a lot worse,” Tavares said. “You hate to see that happen, especially to a guy like (Karlsson), and it’s something that could be avoided. So, for sure, guys take recognition to that.”

There was some debate in the NHL as to whether Karlsson’s injury was avoidable for reasons beyond equipment. Senators general manager Bryan Murray was enraged after Wednesday’s game, telling reporters in Pittsburgh, “It’s Matt Cooke. What else should I say? Watch the replay.”

Cooke, known as one of the dirtiest players in the NHL before very publicly reforming his game last season, insisted that cutting Karlsson was an accident. The NHL agreed, putting the matter to bed without supplemental discipline for the Penguins winger, but not everyone was convinced.

“The history’s there with Matt Cooke,” Carkner said. “He’s been known to do stuff like that. It’s really hard to say what he’s thinking on the play. You see it happen and you wonder why his leg comes up and then drives down. I don’t know if he’s trying to catch himself or what, but he’s got the tendency to play a little bit on the dirty side. You can dwell on that, or just focus on getting Erik better. … It’s just not good to see something like that happen. I don’t know if it was a fluky thing or what, but it’s a tough loss for Ottawa and I just hope Erik can get back and recover fully.”